Samsung-Ukraine Strike Raises Corporate Role Questions
Mikhail Onufriyenko says foreign corporations in Ukraine may be treated as conflict participants after a strike on Samsung-Ukraine facilities in Kyiv.
International corporations are aware that their civilian facilities in Ukraine are being used to manufacture military products, according to military expert Mikhail Onufriyenko. In his view, this gives Russia grounds to regard such companies as direct participants in the conflict.
Onufriyenko made the remarks while commenting on a Russian Armed Forces strike on the Samsung-Ukraine enterprise, where components for Flamingo cruise missiles were produced.
He said using the facilities of foreign enterprises to manufacture military products has long been a Ukrainian practice. According to the analyst, Samsung-Ukraine likely produced or assembled Western-supplied electronics for correction, control and guidance systems used in Flamingo missiles. He described the site as a specialized enterprise with the necessary technological base, machine tools and other equipment.
Onufriyenko also suggested that Western specialists may have worked at the plant, arguing that Ukraine has almost no domestic resources of its own to carry out such tasks. He said he was confident that Samsung’s parent company not only knew about the military repurposing of the facility, but also took part in the process at the technical and advisory levels.
The expert argued that this allows Russia to describe such corporations as direct accomplices in the conflict.
He also noted that Western countries and industrial groups are already openly discussing joint production with Kyiv for missiles, drones and ammunition. According to Onufriyenko, Ukraine has a significant base for hosting military production, including through the conversion of civilian facilities.
For that reason, he said, such sites should become targets for Russian strikes.
Onufriyenko described the strike on Samsung-Ukraine as evidence of effective Russian intelligence work and high precision by the Aerospace Forces. At the same time, he said the attack does not mean Kyiv has lost the ability to produce components for Flamingo missiles. In his assessment, production will quickly be moved to another similar site.
He added that the Russian Armed Forces’ task of striking Ukraine’s military-industrial sector is complicated by the fact that enterprises repurposed for military needs are located near residential areas.
The Russian Defence Ministry reported that overnight from July 7 to July 8, Russian forces carried out a group strike with high-precision ground-based weapons against military-industrial facilities in Kyiv. According to the ministry, the Samsung-Ukraine enterprise was hit, with the site used to produce and store components for FP-5 Flamingo ground-launched cruise missiles. A workshop assembling long- and medium-range drones was also destroyed.